Ok this is the first time i post here..im a noobie so please bare with me. All the CDrs that i see at stores like bestbuy, compusa have the green dye. Ive bought many many of those. I would like to know where can i find the silver CDs. The ones used by record companies. Are the silver ones better ? would like to know who makes them and where can i buy them from..thx in advance

Well, that would depend basically on the drive you are using, and the media that it recommends.

I use alot of the "silver" media. You can find it at BestBuy, it will be under the "Memorex" or "Fuji" brands, but caution, look near the UPC for the "Made In Japan" don't get the Taiwan manufactured media. The Memorex and Fuji 24X cd's are TY media, and they write at full speed (44X) on my Yamaha CRW-F1 drive. I have never had a single coaster from either of these brands, you can catch the Fuji "made in japan" on sale all the time at staples for about 12.00 for a 50 spindle. All of these are silver media, but see what your drive recommends for media, and basically stick to that, other than that, you can experiment!

Those are pressed CD's. There is a difference, I'm not sure what brand they use, but I don't think that would be important since they are not using CDR media. The ones that I suggested are fantastic silver media, and you will have no problem recording audio with them. I have them from years back and they play with no problem, and there is no degredation in the media at all.

As already stated you can't get pressed CDs which are VERY different from CD-Rs, you can get some stuff which is pretty darn close though! First of all, memorex is crap! they only buy grade B CD-Rs (defective rate of 3-5%), stick to Verbatim if you REALLY want a name brand, otherwise, find a place that sells factory direct/unbranded CD-Rs, as they are much cheaper and usually the same quality.

ok, here's the deal with the dye - From everything I've read, and my own personaly experience, here is what I know:

Blue: Compatability issues with older CD-Players, life span of 3-5 years Green(ish): less compatability issues then Blue, life span of about 10 years Silver: VERY FEW incompatabilities, average lifespan of about 20 years Black: I've heard they don't work in some DVD players (VERY RARE, fine in ROMs), Lifespan of 50 years, also more scratch resistant. Gold: More resistant to scratches, higher lifespan, I've never needed that kinda quality though, so I don't have too much experience with them.

this of course does not apply to "neon" bottomed CD-Rs, as they are basically Silver bottomed CDs with the CD-R equivilant of food colouring (metaphorically speaking!)

There are two types of silver bottomed CD-Rs, regular and TruSilver/Diamond: the latter is closer to pressed CDs in that they do not show any burn marks after they have been burned to. There is *NO* difference in quality (so don't pay more for them!), they just have a cosmetic difference. good luck!

You say that memorex is crap? (Figures you state in a later post that you work for CMC) I have thousands of Memorex discs that were produced by TY and just to let you know they are not crap) These are not "B" discs either, they are 1st rate cdr-s! You state that this memorex "B" cdrs have a failure rate of 3-5%, I've not had a single memorex failure as of this date. (I've backed up more than a disc or 2). The memorex media that we were talking about in this post series refers to TY media. (read above) and I dont' think that anyone in here would say that TY media is crap!

Again, I DO NOT WORK FOR CMC! I work for a company that BUYS from CMC...BIG diference.

OK, I know for a fact that memorex specifically asks for Grade B CDs (which is an official factory grade) The Grade system goes from S (the highest grade) to E (I think is the lowest). Thatn doesn't mean that the compatability is bad, just the percent chance of burn failure. I used to ONLY buy BASF (because that was what was available to me), and they are produced (in part) by T.Y. and I ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS had 1 in EVERY 10 pack fail on me. Every single time, not even one exepction. When they worked, they worked well, but when I bought 10, I bought 9. By the way, I don't believe ANY name brand buys Grade S CDs (defective rate of less then 1%), only Verbatim, Sony, and TDK buy Grade A CDs to the best of my knowledge, but I could be wrong. CiCero is the only brand of CD I know of that specifically buys grade E CD-Rs, but then agian, that's futureshops own brand, so who's surprised.

In case you're wondering EVERY factory produces S-E Grade CDs... yes Even T.Y. they might junk their lower grade CDs, but in the process of producing CDs, lower grade ones ARE ALWAYS made. So you can still get a low grade T.Y. Disc in theory. I have no problem with T.Y. by the way, I'd love to sell their CDs, but they're kinda picky about who gets OEM jobs done through them, and since we only have 1 location, we arn't big enough for them to consider viable....yet!

Also, you state that you positively know that there are no Memorex discs manufactured by CMC??? Would you like to come look at the 500+ that I have that are positively identified in the ATIP as CMC Media, and they have a BEAUTIFUL Memorex label on the top! ROFLMAO

my bad on the memorex thing. Some Memorex ARE made by CMC. Actually, I checked my own memorx CD-Rs for that info. I used to ONLY buy memorex, but I just got TOO fed up with their habit of buying medium grade CDs, so I switched to un-branded grade A CD-Rs, much better results! I should have some more experience with CMC discs soon, as I will be burning 300 of their CDs at 32x between now and wednesday! I don't anticipate any problems, but who knows. I'll keep people informed! :)

In correct about the life time and the disc color. There is no indication that the color of the dye is causing difference in aging time. Should I really have to test this with some markers.[:o)] Now most black and silver and NEON disc's have the same dye. The point is however that the black layer which gives the disc's the black color absorbs more UV and for that reason the cd is better protected against UV. Which can lead to a longer life.

The scratch resistance is also incorrect. Ever had Emtec's /BASF so called Ceram Guards./CD-R MASTER(TY/KODAK) (These might also grade A since I never had problems with these disc's. While the other Emtec's/BASF aren't that good. And these disc's are quite expensive. So for the costs it could be. ) Like I said Colors don't say everything I have seen Silver disc's going bad in a month(Acer) while I have blue disc's which are older than 5 years. However it is true that true gold disc's do last longer. But then again the good gold (KODAK/MITSUI) disc's also seem to be very good compatible with most writers.So is according to my theory we have a the followingeffect. Of Quality burn + Good disc quality(Gold is less sensitive for UV and also the other coating layers are of high quality of these discs.)

The rating system is correct ( at least FOR A to E. The S term I never have encountered but as you say there are very few brands who use it. But you should be right, I guess.) I allways have said to many people factory doesn't say everything. Specially with Ritek. Check my postings if there still there.

However I have to say that I never have seen any A scored CMC Magnetic discs purely base on test results.

However are you shure that TDK only buys A grade disc's because ther D-view line(mostly made by TDK and Ritek) scores prety poor. Also the own disc's of Sony score prety poor. The Mitsui and TY of Sony score excellent but there own disc's aren't that great.

If Memorex buys B-graded Riteks then why do these b-graded Memorex riteks score any time better as your supposed A graded TDK's. Now I know that the system isn't saying everything. It could be a lucky shot. But after 6 tests the Memorex ritek's score allways top on writing quality and way better as most other RITEK disc's. STRANGE isn't it.

About Verbatim I can confirm that ther CMC Magnetic disc's work better as the competitors. Still there aren't as good the Azo disc's.

Now how do you explain the following. However how do you explain the huge difference in scores of TY and CMC Magnetic tests. TY allways scores average or above. CMC Magnetics scores most times poor and sometimes average. But is never a winner. Now Ritek does show perfectly what your saying Ritek cd's can be found through the whole testing range. I have a pretty explanation for this behaviour that TY scores better even with B brands as mosts brands. But I first want you guys to think for you self what it could be, so long folks.